(SEE DIA. IX.)
Stooping forms have so many variations that it is impossible to describe
them all. The term “stooping” is generally applied to persons with
prominent shoulder blades. We find them combined with long and short
necks, large and small waists, hollow or flat in the back and front of
the waist, and arms thrown backward or forward. All of these conditions
must be observed and separately calculated, and a cutter will be kept
constantly busy and on the watch. It is only where a cutter is thoroughly
acquainted with the workings of this system of bases that he will be able
to fit all forms as near as he is expected to do. All kinds of measures
have been devised, and all sorts of imaginary bases have been adopted
to fit the forms of a man; but where one cutter succeeds with a certain
appliance, others utterly fail. The fact is, even if all measures should
give the correct amount, the body itself could not be fitted except on a
few specified points, and all defects should be covered up in place of
imitating them. To fit the stooping form in all its details would result
in a misfit from the start, particularly when the back of the waist is
very hollow.
If we take a coat that fits a normal form, and put it on a stooping
form of the same size, and button it under the chin, the neck will fit,
but will stick out behind at the waist and spread apart in front. A
reasonable way of altering it is to reduce the back seam of the side
piece from the blade down, which will produce more curve over the blade
and give more length to the back; and what is taken off behind at the
waist is allowed in front. It is generally taken for granted that a
stooping form requires his armholes more forward, but this is not always
the case, for some of them throw their arms backward; and we find the
contrary in a great many erect forms, who throw their arms forward—all of
which the cutter must observe.
Now, suppose we permit the coat to be loose under the chin, and button
one or two lower buttons. In this case we shall find that the coat will
fit in the back of the waist, but at the neck it will be too loose and
will gape all around the front. If we gather the wrinkles together in
front we can make the breast fit the form, although the top of the back
may be too short. So we can make our alteration on the spot again, always
providing, however, that we are altering the pattern only, by starting at
the front sleeve nick and laying a fold forward to the amount of whatever
the fullness of the coat may indicate. This again will alter the pattern
from that direction. It makes the front shorter in place of making the
back longer. This last is the most reasonable way to alter a coat for the
stooping form, for it must be remembered that in both erect and stooping
forms the change proceeds from front to back, and at the waist.
The backbone is solid, although it bends, but it never becomes longer
or shorter on the same form. If the body throws itself forward into a
stooping position, the back bends and the front contracts at the pit of
the stomach. If the body throws itself upward in a more erect position,
the back bends the other way and the front expands at the pit of the
stomach. The front only expands or contracts at the pit of the stomach.
The backbone must be considered a hinge on which the whole body swings,
just like a door on its hinges; and all alteration may be made from that
point, either by stretching some parts or by folding up the pattern
before the garment is cut.
If a stooping form throws his arms forward, then the armholes must be
further forward of the front sleeve base. But in that case the front
sleeve base must be just as much advanced. And again: Whatever the
front of the armhole has been advanced must be added to the back of the
armhole, for a stooping form has no larger arm than an erect form. The
armhole must be moved forward, but made no larger.
This constant backward and forward movement of the neck, waist, and
shoulders is one of the greatest studies any cutter will be obliged to
go through, as it is, in fact, the only variation to be found in the
normal form which cannot be measured, but must be taken by the trained
eye of the cutter, and his practical knowledge of how to alter. Actual
measurement, by whatever measure or name it may be called, is a delusion,
for all so-called long or short measures around the shoulders, neck
and arms must be taken close over a body which we do not intend to fit
as snugly as the measure itself. As a rule, said measures are seldom
applied, or transferred to a flat pattern on the same line as they have
been taken over the form itself.
For illustration, we will examine the so-called upper shoulder measure,
from the top of the center of the back to around under the arm and back
again to the place of beginning. Said measure is always to be taken
close, because any slack would again cause great variation in the hands
of different cutters. By taking it close the tape will not strike the
body of the coat under the arm at all, because the armhole is lower
than the body itself, but the tape pulls the sleeve up and passes above
the armhole. If cutters will go to the trouble and make a line on their
patterns over which they transfer that measure, and then draw stitches
in, they will find that when the coat is on the body they cannot even
follow said stitches with the tape line, unless it is fastened every _few
inches_. If that be the case, _what good is the measure_? If that measure
is to do a cutter any good he must be able to follow a certain trail on
the pattern, as he does on the coat when on the body, but that cannot be
done. There is no one so blind as he who does not want to see.
If the pit of the stomach contracts or expands, that is no proof that
the shoulder and arms also draw out of their normal position. If the
breast measure be taken correctly, as directed in this work, passing
over the point of the shoulder blades, then the round shoulders of a
stooping form, and the flat ones of an erect form are included within
the measure. Consequently nothing can be added to the blade for a round
back nor taken away for a flat back—the change must be above or below,
notwithstanding the appearance of Dia. II B. The round back requires his
armhole more forward, and what is taken out in front of the armhole is
again allowed on the back, making the back broader. If the back of the
armhole is not supplied with what is taken out in front, the under and
back sleeve will drag and pull backward. Because the stooping form may
throw his arm forward, is no indication that his arms becomes larger, but
it demonstrates that his armhole must be located more forward.
But again: Because a man is stooping is no indication that his back
must be round. A man may throw his neck downward in front, but may also
throw his arms backward, and stand very erect in the waist. Such a form
requires his neck hole downward in front but does not require his armhole
forward. The front and back of the armhole may be located as for the
normal form, or even for the erect form.
Further: Because a man is classed among the erect forms is no proof that
his back must be flat. We find plenty of so-called erect forms who throw
their arms forward, and their backs become very straight in length.
The terms _normal_, _stooping_ and _erect_ are very indefinite, and I do
not believe that any man is, or ever will be able to describe a stooping
form alone in all its variations and combinations. All that can be done
is to point out certain forms; and the cutter who starts out on his
cutting tour through life must always be on his guard, and study his
customers, and imprint their forms upon his own brain.
Now, as the breast measure contains the full size of a round as well as a
flat shoulder blade, we must come to the following conclusion: That the
stooping form requires simply more length in the back, or less length
over the front, and years of experience teaches me that ½ to ¾ extra
length over the blade is enough for the extreme stooping form, but such
a form requires its length in the center of the back, or from the blade
upward; and whatever the back is made longer on top must be shortened at
the front, as is shown in Dia. IX, which illustrates the long as well as
the short neck, and also the stooping form.
But there is no law to prevent a cutter from adopting a middle way, by
leaving the forepart as it is and to make the whole back, say ½ longer
and reducing that length again somewhere at the armhole, because a back
that becomes longer behind requires no extra length at the side. This
alteration is even to altering the back as for a long neck, leaving the
front as it is for the normal form. If a coat fit at the neck but swings
off at the waist, reduce the back of the side piece, say ¼ in., at the
waist and stretch it downward to make it again long enough—all of which
is required to lengthen the back ½ in. But if the stooping form should
require his armhole further forward, ¼ is enough for the extreme. Point 8
remains the center for the back sleeve, all extra length being allowed on
top.
In the conclusion of this article, I will say that I have given different
views as to the making of alterations, because while cutting we can alter
as we please; but if a garment must be altered after it is made, it must
be altered as best we can, and if a garment is worth altering at all it
is worth altering right. I will here again point to the fact that coats
for stooping forms usually have a tendency to swing off at the back of
the waist, and such garments can most always be brought to the body by
giving the center of the back and the back seam of the side piece a good
stretching under the smoothing iron from a point over the shoulder blade
downward.
All alterations between the stooping and the erect forms can be better
comprehended if we consider a well-fitting coat on a normal form as
follows: Consider the coat cut through from each side to each back, and
to each front, and consider the sides as on hinges, and then consider
what the result would be if the form imitates the so-called erect or
stooping positions. In that case the cuts across the hollow of the waist
would open in front or back, as the case may be, and contract at the
opposite. The result of the backward and forward moving of the body
must be imitated by contracting or folding the pattern, just as a coat
will full up in the back when the body becomes erect. Under the head of
stooping forms also belongs the so-called “hunchback,” and to fit such
forms will always be a hard job.
To fit them is not the right term in my opinion. They do not want to be
fitted, for to fit them would just show their deformity, which should be
hidden by his coat, at least in the back of the waist. Such forms are
often very erect ones, and most of them throw their arms and shoulders
up, making them extra square, and may be at right angles with the side of
the neck. If the armhole is left, as for the normal form, as it should
be, then the angle of 135 deg. must have a gore cut at the neck, and in
the shoulder seam, of at least 1 in., and the top of the back placed say
1 in. lower, and the front of the neck 1 in. lower, while the side of the
neck may be widened ½ in. only. This will not disturb the armhole and
sleeve. The top of back and the top of front must be shortened, because
there is no slope of the neck; the cloth runs straight over, and for this
reason the side of the neck is to be cut out more, while there is no
change whatever at the armhole.
Now, while the upper part of the back must be made shorter, that part
of the back which passes over the shoulder blades and which is in this
case extremely large, must be made longer, as far over as the enlarged
shoulder blade requires it. But at the armhole the back requires the
normal length only. On a frock coat such length may be given in the back,
and that length again reduced by a larger gore between the side piece
and the back. But on a sack coat this cannot be done, as no seam runs
over to that point, and in consequence the extra length must be put in
otherwise, and I will here give the best way to do it, but it may not be
the shortest way.
If the back requires say 1½ in. extra length over the haunch, cut the
whole back ¾ longer in the portion of the back armhole, and reduce ¾ at
the shoulder seam toward the armhole again, which will leave the balance
of the armhole as it was before. Next, stretch the center of the back ¾
over and along the shoulder blade, and over toward the arm, say about 4
to 5 in. each way, or as far over as the enlarged shoulder blade requires
it.
In the article on “Center of Back and Front,” it is shown why the center
of the back can be fitted on straight lines, and this is true of the back
of a hunchback, though a modification may be made for such a form and
some taken off above or below the hunch, or something be thrown out over
the center behind. But it is not width, that such a coat wants; it is
length over the blade, not over and clear across to the armhole, but only
as far over as the deformation requires. In this respect let me allude
to an article and diagram in “THE AMERICAN TAILOR AND CUTTER” of August,
1890, pages 34 and 35:
“That pivot, from the armhole across to the center of back,
which must be done on straight lines, can not work, unless the
body of a man is first pressed flat from side to side, leaving
the center of front and the center of back on a sharp edge,
or what would be the same illustration: on a form cut from a
one-half inch board, the sides being flat. In this case only,
the form can be fitted from back to front, and on curved back
and front centers. But as long as we must fit men having the
present form the back must be fitted from back to side and on
straight lines at the center of back. The opening of the lines
over the back, as shown in that illustration, is too straight,
it will make the back either too long at the center, or too
short at the middle of the back, and may fall smooth over the
middle of the back, but will draw at the center and at the
armhole.”
The above should receive the attention of every cutter, as the term
“Hunchback” is simply a combination of extremely stooping and extremely
erect forms.
To sum up the whole stooping form: The back of such a form does not
become longer, but it bends and produces a larger curve over the blade,
and consequently the coat back will go with the body and requires no
extra length. But the front contracts either all over the chest or at the
pit of the stomach, and the coat must be contracted or shortened there,
but as there is no seam there we must fall on to the next best place
where we can find a seam, and here we find the shoulder seam in which the
surplus length of the forepart may be taken up. Now, if we use Dia. II or
Dia. VIII as a model, we simply lap the shoulders toward the blade, the
same as for the normal form, but omit the lap toward the neck. This is
the most reasonable way of altering for the stooping form.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]